MFP which has the scan history management function and a method of managing the scan history in the MFP

Abstract

An MFP and a method of managing the scan history in the MFP includes a scanning part scanning a document and creating image data; a barcode data generating part encoding a predetermined scan history information related to a scan work and creating the barcode data corresponding to the scan history information; and a controlling part controlling such that a transmission data is transmitted to a recipient's email address, after the barcode data is added to the image data and the transmission data is created. The scanned image data is added with the barcode data containing a scan performer, a scan performed place, and a scan performed point, and transmitted to the recipient's email address. The recipient is able to know a scan performer, a scan performed place, and a scan performed point, such that the scan history is easily managed.

1 . A method of managing a scan history comprising: 
 scanning a document and creating image data;    encoding predetermined scan history information related to the scanning and creating barcode data corresponding to the scan history information;    adding the barcode data to the image data to create the transmission data; and    transmitting the transmission data to a recipient's email address.    
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the predetermined scan history information comprises one out of a user's ID and email address, an IP address of the MFP being currently used, a size of the image data and scanning performing time, email address of the recipient, or combinations thereof.  
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising before the scanning: 
 storing a user ID and email address to be inputted and creating a user account; and    authenticating whether the user account has a registered user account by matching the user ID and a stored ID of the registered user account.    
     
     
         4 . The method of managing the scan history of  claim 1 , further comprising, after the transmission data is transmitted to the recipient's email address, the recipient outputs the transmission data, reads the barcode data from the outputted transmission data using a separate barcode reading device and extracts the scan history information.  
     
     
         5 . The method of managing the scan history of  claim 1 , further comprising storing the image data and the barcode data.  
     
     
         6 . A document capture apparatus, comprising: 
 a scanning part to scan and create an electronic image of a document;    an indicia generating part to create machine-readable indicia including information related to the scanning and creation of the electronic image of the document; and    a controlling part to create a combined document including the electronic image and the indicia such that, when another apparatus receives the combined document, the information related to the electronic image is read from indicia of the combined document.    
     
     
         7 . The document capture apparatus of  claim 6 , wherein the indicia comprises a barcode including the information, and the controlling part creates the combined document to include a first area including the electronic image and a second area including the barcode.  
     
     
         8 . The document capture apparatus of  claim 7 , wherein the first area is other than the second area.  
     
     
         9 . The document capture apparatus of  claim 6 , wherein the information related to the electronic image includes when the document was scanned, a location of the document capture apparatus, and/or a location of a recipient of the combined document.  
     
     
         10 . The document capture apparatus of  claim 6 , wherein the controlling part further messages the combined document to the another apparatus, and the information related to the electronic image includes routing information to a recipient of the message.  
     
     
         11 . The document capture apparatus of  claim 6 , wherein: 
 the indicia generating part has a capacity to create a first type of indicia and a second type of indicia other than the first type, and    the controlling part receives a selection indication selecting between the first and second types, and controls the indicia generating part to create the selected one of the first and second type of indicia with the information according to the received selection indication.    
     
     
         12 . The document capture apparatus of  claim 11 , wherein the first type of indicia comprises a one-dimensional optical indicia in which the information is expressed linearly, and the second type of indicia comprises a multi-dimensional optical indicia in which the information is expressed in multiple directions.  
     
     
         13 . The document capture apparatus of  claim 6 , further comprising an authentication unit which authenticates a requestor's identification, wherein the controlling part prevents an unauthenticated requestor from accessing the scanning part and/or from messaging the combined document from the document capture apparatus.  
     
     
         14 . The document capture apparatus of  claim 6 , further comprising a memory which stores a plurality of created indicia for a corresponding plurality of combined documents, wherein the controlling part generates a list of the created indicia such that the information in each indicia is accessible without accessing the corresponding combined documents.  
     
     
         15 . The document capture apparatus of  claim 6 , further comprising an interface through which the document capture apparatus connects to a network and through the controlling part messages the combined document to the another apparatus across the network.  
     
     
         16 . The document capture apparatus of  claim 15 , wherein the controlling part generates an email message in order to message the combined document to the another apparatus.  
     
     
         17 . The document capture apparatus of  claim 15 , wherein the indicia is readable by an optical character recognition system of the another apparatus Or by a barcode reader included in the optical character recognition system of the another apparatus.  
     
     
         18 . A method of managing a scan history comprising: 
 scanning a document to create image data using a scanning apparatus;    encoding information related to the scanning of the document into a machine-readable indicia at the scanning apparatus; and    combining the machine-readable indicia with the image data to form transmission data readable by another apparatus such that the another apparatus reproduces the information from the machine-readable indicia.    
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , further comprising: 
 messaging the transmission data to a recipient's address across a network; and    receiving the message at the another apparatus.    
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein the machine-readable indicia comprises a barcode, and wherein the barcode comprises a multi-dimensional barcode.